Friday, July 21, 2017

Wells Fargo Sued Again for Unethical Practices

Another local manager has sued Wells Fargo saying she was fired due to the oppressive and fraudulent sales tactics employed by the company. Rachael DeBoy of Cibolo sued the company accusing them of fraud, breach of contract, quantum meruit (i.e., alleging the company did not pay what was owed), and for wrongful termination. In the Petition filed under DeBoy v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., No. 2017-CI-12897, the former Branch Manager accuses the bank of imposing stringent sales quotas starting in 2011. Ms. DeBoy complained about the unethical sales tactics. She said these sales tactics harmed customers. She complained to managers, Human Resources and to the Ethics phone line. She received no response. But, her better sales persons were fired or transferred. She was set up to fail, she alleges.

She went out on maternity leave and was replaced by a temporary manager who reinforced the bank’s unethical sales practices. Then, upon her return to work, she received a poor job evaluation with no warning and no job coaching.She had formerly been a stellar employee.

She resigned to avid a termination. Her replacement received a raise and a promotion. I previously wrote about the first lawsuit by Alex Leal against Wells Fargo here. Lawsuits based on “wrongful termination” in Texas will not go far. There is no such cause pf action in Texas. Her other causes of action are perhaps problematic. The Plaintiff alleges she was denied bonuses and raises due to the unethical practices. But, given the bad publicity about Wells Fargo and its shady practices, she may succeed. See San Antonio Express News report here.